By 2015, consumers worldwide will spend about $119 billion on goods and services using their mobile phones, representing about 8% of the total e-commerce market, predicts ABIresearch. In the United States, mobile shopping rose 203% last year, to $1.2 billion from $396 million in 2008, the New York-based research firm says.
“Mobile online shopping is reaching critical mass,” Mark Beccue, ABIresearch senior analyst, notes in a news release. “While definitions of mass-market adoption vary, a more than fivefold increase in one year indicates a significant consumer interest.”
ABIresearch was unable to provide a representative for an interview by PaymentsSource deadline.
Driving the increase in mobile shopping is the recent sharp spike in smartphone sales and the corresponding enthusiasm for mobile Internet access, Beccue notes in the release. Moreover, many more retailers have been launching mobile consumer Web sites, he says.
“A long-term driver, in global terms, is the fact that, in many less-industrialized regions, mobile is virtually the only way to access the Internet,” Beccue adds.
Overall, mobile online shopping allows for better time management, and by the end of last year, most consumers began checking out products in retail stores and using their mobile phones to find better deals, according to ABIresearch.
Virtual goods, often associated with online gaming, also have experienced an uptick. Indeed, mobile payments may be the best option for online purchases less than $20, making it more suitable for consumers, often young gamers, who lack access to credit cards, ABIresearch says in the release.
Though ABIresearch expects growth in mobile commerce to remain steady in the U.S., mobile commerce in Japan last year already exceeded $10 billion, and it expects Europe to outperform the U.S. by year end. ABIresearch did not provide specific data for this prediction.
